Issue: Spring 2018
For the first time since 2015, the SFA football program was represented at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, as defensive end John Franklin was invited to participate in the coveted workout. Franklin is the first Lumberjack to be invited since All-American and SFA’s all-time leading rusher Gus Johnson participated in 2015.
Following a 31-year affiliation with SFA athletics, Robert Hill announced his plans to retire in May. Under Hill’s leadership, SFA has enjoyed an unprecedented run of success both in the Southland Conference and on the national stage. Among the notable athletic achievements are an NCAA Division I national championship in bowling; four men’s basketball appearances in the NCAA tournament; Demi Payne becoming the first SFA athlete to claim an NCAA Division I individual title by winning the outdoor pole vault title in 2015; 10 consecutive women’s conference track titles; and five consecutive women’s soccer league titles.
The Ladyjacks upped SFA’s Southland Conference championship total to 88 when the team captured the program’s ninth regular season league title in November. Head coach Debbie Humphreys was named the Southland Conference’s Katrinka Jo Crawford Coach of the Year for the sixth time after leading SFA back to the top of the league standings for the first time since 2014.
Three SFA student-athletes received College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America honors this past fall. In addition to Marlon Walls’ selection as the CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year in December 2017, sophomore volleyball player Ann Hollas collected CoSIDA Academic All-America third-team honors after maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA in biology. Sophomore soccer player Carli Arthurs also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America third-team honors by maintaining a 4.0 GPA in mathematics.
Marlon Walls was named to the 20th annual Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star Team for a second consecutive time and was one of nine finalists for the FCS ADA’s annual $5,000 postgraduate scholarships. Walls’ accomplishments were highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports in early December at the 2017 National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Annual Awards Dinner in New York City. Walls received an invitation to the event by becoming a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy.